WHY THE GREEN NEW DEAL IS A BAD DEAL FOR AMERICA

By Martin Capages Jr.

The Green New Deal utilizes a propaganda technique called Appeal to Fear. It advances the notion that the U. S.  must initiate a massive and urgent State-run program that would control the climate by reducing the use of carbon-based fuels. It would simultaneously improve the lot of the poor and middle class. In truth, this pro

• Language: English
• Publisher: American Freedom Publications LLC
• Release date: Feb 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781645164333

Martin Capages Jr.

Martin Capages, Jr. is a retired professional engineer, technical executive and an Army veteran. His technical and management experience includes aircraft design, petroleum exploration and production, computer modeling and technology applications and structural engineering. He began writing political commentary in 2009 and completed his first book, The Moral Case for American Freedom, in July 2017. His writing is from the perspective of an engineer, Christian layman, conservative and Constitutional originalist. Martin attended Missouri State University and the Missouri University of Science and Technology where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1967. After receiving his Commission as an Army Ordnance Officer but prior to reporting for active duty, he joined Boeing Aircraft in Wichita as an Associate Engineer working on the new 737. He reported for active duty in June 1967. After completing active duty, Martin joined Exxon in Houston, Texas, with assignments throughout the U.S. and Europe to include serving as acting North Sea Development Planning Manager for Exxon in London, Production Operations in the Gulf of Mexico, Engineering Manager for the Texas Midland District, the Alaska Financial and Facilities groups, and Exxon's Western Division Computing organization. He left Exxon in 1984 to join Kerr McGee in Oklahoma as Manager of Engineering Services until 1992 when he left the petroleum industry to start his own structural engineering consulting firm, ARIS Engineering Inc., in Springfield, Missouri. He continued post-graduate studies in Civil Engineering and Management receiving an earned Doctorate in Engineering Management in 2002. He retired from full time practice in 2012.

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DEDICATION

TO THE ENERGY PROVIDERS OF AMERICA

OTHER WORKS BY THE AUTHOR

BOOTS TO BOGIES TO BRONZE: The Authorized World War II

                                                        Biography of 2LT Jack C. Pyatt

THE MORAL CASE FOR AMERICAN FREEDOM

OZARK COUNTY HEART: Boyhood Memories of a Dora Missouri

                                            Farm

A WAKEFUL WATCH: The Authorized Biography of Charles

                                      Lindbergh Armstrong

HEARTLAND REBELLION

THE SILENT SECOND: The Biography of Martin Capages-

                                      Captain USMC

EPIPHANY: Before Time Zero- Faith of an Engineer

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following people who contributed so much time and effort during the preparation of this book:

To my wife Pamela for taking time from her own devotions and writings to offer her encouragement, thoughts, patience and prayers during the preparation of this, yet another, book by her husband,

To Mr. Andy May, Author of CLIMATE CASTASTROPHE!: Science or Science Fiction?, for his technical input and for his willingness to write the Foreword to this book,

To Dr. Ronald R. Cherry, Author of RESTORING THE AMERICAN MIND, for his continued support, friendship and leadership in all matters of Faith and Patriotism,

To the Federal employees of the United States Energy Information Administration for the outstanding work they do in providing important material and data on Energy to the American public.

Table of Contents

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FOREWORD

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

THE GREEN NEW DEAL

PROPOSED LEGISLATION

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

ANALYSIS OF PROPOSED DRAFT LEGISLATION

THE BIG LIE

PATHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

ENERGY TRUTH

THE BIG GREEN PROBLEM

PEAK RENEWABLE ENERGY

WIND ENERGY

SOLAR ENERGY

SOLAR THERMAL COLLECTORS

SOLAR PANELS

THE REAL PROBLEM WITH WIND AND SOLAR

THE REAL GREEN MOVEMENT AGENDA

THE ENERGY PLAN

THE AVAILABLE RESOURCES

COAL

CRUDE OIL

NATURAL GAS

CRUDE OIL AND NATURAL GAS COMBINED

BIOMASS AND BIOFUELS

LOW CARBON CONTENT ENERGY RESOURCES

DISTRIBUTION

THE POWER GRID

OFF-GRID

THE PLANNING PROCESS

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

THE U. S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION

ENERGY PLAN ADDENDUM TO HOUSE RULES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WORKS CITED

INDEX

FOREWORD

Dr. Martin Capages has done an excellent job of deconstructing the Green New Deal. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is only the latest, in a long line of politicians, to use climate change as an excuse for world government and global control of production, distribution and exchange of goods and services, aka socialism. The global warming (or climate change, if you prefer) scare has been inexorably tied to socialism since it was conceived in the late 1980s by Maurice Strong. He became the founding director of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) and later, in 1992, he created the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has dominated (some would say dictated) the global climate change agenda ever since.

But, the global warming/climate change is not a scientific issue, it is an economic and political one. By speculating that climate change is man-made, through our carbon dioxide emissions, and dangerous, the politicians can claim that to save the planet we must form a global governmental body to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and save the planet.

However, whether climate change is mostly natural or mostly man-made, is less important than the rate of the change and if it is dangerous. The rate of global warming over the past 150 years is less than one degree Celsius (1.8°F) per 100 years, this is not alarming and, if anything, it appears to be slowing down in recent decades (Fyfe, et al., 2016). So, a climate catastrophe is not headed our way anytime in the next few hundred years, we do have plenty of time to study the matter.

Characterizing the current warming as an urgent and impending crisis is silly considering the scientific evidence we have today. There is no need to remove national boundaries, form a global government and abandon capitalism to save the world. Climate changes, we all accept this, perhaps it is mostly man-made, perhaps it is mostly natural, we don’t know. What we do know is that many communities may be affected by climate change. Sea level is rising, the best long-term estimates are that it is rising between 1.8 and 3 millimeters per year. This is not a large rate, perhaps seven inches to a foot in 100 years, much less than the daily tides. But, if it causes problems, seawalls can be built, people can move from dangerous areas or elevate their houses, it is a problem that can be dealt with locally, as it has been for thousands of years.

With fossil fuels or nuclear power, which the climate change alarmists want to eliminate, we can cool or heat our buildings if a community gets too cold or too hot. If we get more rain, we can improve our drainage or move out of flood plains. If it gets too dry, we can drill wells for water or move water via aqueducts. The point is, each community needs to deal with its own problems.  Climate change is not a problem that must be dealt with globally, the people affected and closest to the problem will deal with it in the most effective and efficient manner, as they always have.

So, consider Dr. Capages arguments carefully. Capitalism built our current affluent society and lifted billions of people out of abject poverty. Do we really need to throw all of this away and turn all our businesses and property rights over to a world government to fight a possible climate change problem that is hundreds of years away, if it exists at all?

---Andy May

Author of Climate Catastrophe! Science or Science Fiction?

PREFACE

The Green New Deal utilizes a propaganda technique called Appeal to Fear. It advances the notion that the U. S.  must initiate a massive and urgent State-run program that would control the climate by reducing the use of carbon-based fuels. It would simultaneously improve the lot of the poor and middle class. In truth, this proposed program would be a complete waste of human and natural resources. The entire concept is based on the false premises that carbon dioxide (CO2) is a pollutant, CO2 emissions are bad, that the increasing rate of CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels is causing the global temperature to rise which will lead to adverse climate change, and that reducing fossil fuel use is an immediate necessity to protect the natural environment from most human actions.  None of the premises are true but an entire political party has been co-opted by the ‘old’ glamour of young, naïve want-to-be Marxists who have seized on this invalid concept, The New Green Deal, to disguise a push for complete State control in all matters. The Party establishment has caved and now Democratic Socialism is a primary plank in the Party’s progressive political platform.

This book is intended to address the future role of carbon-based fuels in a rational manner and without a hidden political or ideological agenda. It is agreed that the supply of fossil fuels is finite and the natural environment is affected by its continued use.  Most of the effects are beneficial for both humans and the environment. But some are not. However, there is enough time to plan for a transition to cleaner energy without massive government intervention in the form of the control of production and the private sector. That type of government intervention is by definition-- Socialism. It has never been successful.

It is unfortunate that today labels such as climate denier or climate contrarian are being used to great effect against those asking some reasonable questions about the state-of-the-art of climatology, the accuracy of climate models, the scientific conclusions and the recommended actions derived from those conclusions.  To challenge a consensus is what science is all about. I’m an engineer, not a scientist. But that does not prevent me from asking logical questions about the science and why, in particular, there is such a rush to transition away from the use of carbon-based fuels. That does not make me or anyone else of the same mindset deniers or contrarians. 

This is a serious matter. One that must be considered in a clear-eyed and non-ideological way. This is not a liberal arts matter, it must be considered pragmatically, with constructive thought and action. And the first practical thought is to recognize that we have plenty of time to gather the data and get it right, the American Way, not the Democratic Socialists Green New Deal way.

---Martin Capages Jr. PhD PE

    Author of The Moral Case for American Freedom

INTRODUCTION

Humankind has survived and flourished in a world beset with hazards. Its survival has been aided by its superior intelligence that allowed humankind to leverage the force multiplier of accessible energy. The sun has always provided the energy base but its areal peculiarities and timing variances have created poor living conditions in most locations. Survival has required the successful harnessing of energy from a source other than direct sunlight. The primary alternative source of energy came from the burning of wood, peat, dung and coal. Other energy sources came from the capture of wind and water flow. This allowed the population to grow.

That was the way it was until the beginning of the Industrial Age. Then humankind learned how to harness the energy of combustion by producing steam, first to drive pistons, then turbines. The initial primary fuel (after wood, dung and peat) was coal, then fuel oil and manufactured gas were added to the mix of carbon-based fuels. In the early stages, the primary benefit was mechanical advantage in